Empire of Crime

Recently we announced Lords of Nal Hutta, a sourcebook for the Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ roleplaying game. Lords of Nal Hutta provides players and GMs with a wealth of information to help them to incorporate the slimy characters, black markets, and lawless planets of Hutt Space into their games. You can travel into the most decadent and corrupt stretch of the galaxy, work for a criminal syndicate, or create your own ambitious and conniving Hutt character. In this decadent and corrupt region of the galaxy, you’ll find plenty of opportunities for profitable crimes, illegal luxuries, or unexpected good deeds.

Today’s preview looks at Hutt character creation and the fundamentals of Hutt culture. Contributing writer Sterling Hershey also introduces you to the four kajidics featured in Lords of Nal Hutta, each one specialized in a different style of crime.

Power and Greed

Thousands of years ago, the Hutts used to be a warrior culture, settling disputes on the battlefield rather than in the political arena. When a civil war devastated the entire species, the Hutts created a ruling council and a clan system, so their battles for power and control could take place peacefully. Now, Hutt clans aggressively compete for political and economic power. The Hutt Ruling Council governs their society with a legal framework that is built to be manipulated, and their justice is based on politics and revenge instead of balance or fairness.

Since they transitioned from military to economic competition, the Hutts have come to dominate criminal activity in the galaxy, using legitimate activities to conceal their illegal dealings. Their knowledge of trade routes, open and secret, is unsurpassed. The spice trade, slave trade, and weapons black market all depend on the galaxy-wide networks of the Hutts.

The Means to Prosper

The most important unit of Hutt society is the kajidic – essentially a clan-based crime syndicate. Kajidic translates to “the means by which we prosper,” revealing that a kajidic’s purpose is to make its members as wealthy and powerful as possible. Each kajidic specializes in a unique set of legal and illegal economic activities, possesses a certain amount of political power, and is usually governed by a single, preeminent Hutt. Here, contributing writer Sterling Hershey introduces the four kajidics featured in Lords of Nal Hutta, including two that he designed:

“Kajidics are criminal syndicates intertwined with the Hutt clans through all of Hutt space and beyond. The book features four of the kajidics in detail, and I named and created two of them. Each kajidic description covers its general history, recent events, legitimate and criminal activities, areas of operation, and a few significant members. There is a mixture of recognizable and new characters.

“The featured kajidics include two of the best known – Desilijic and Besadii. Desilijic is Jabba the Hutt’s operation, an ancient and poweful kajidic that currently holds the upper hand in Hutt politics. The rival Besadii kajidic includes Durga the Hutt and Gardulla the Hutt, who are both heavily tied into previous Hutt storylines. Besadii lost its seat on the ruling council during the Clone Wars, but has prospered through striking secret deals with the Empire.

“Qunaalac is a heavily armed kajidic. It is a major defender of Hutt space, especially around the secretive Hutt throneworlds in the Bootana Hutta. It retains more of the Hutts’ ancient militaristic past traditions compared to other kajidics. Hutt military fleets are usually ad-hoc affairs reliant on current alliances and multiple agendas, like any other Hutt operation. So the Qunaalac Hutts aren’t entirely military, but it is their strength.

“While Qunaalac operates mostly within Hutt Space, Gorensla Hutts are galactic black marketeers. They operate in the shadows, secretly owning and controlling ports, hyperspace smuggling routes, and more. Their front organizations influence entire economies. They rig laws to legalize their activities. They play and profit from all sides in wartime. Gorensla even sells to the Rebels, but are careful to conceal that fact from both sides of the Galactic Civil War.”

Thank you, Sterling!

You can integrate your knowledge of kajidics and Hutt culture into your campaign, whether it takes you deep into Hutt Space or entangles you in Jabba’s smuggling ring on Tatooine. If you’re building an NPC or PC Hutt character, you’ll want to consider what kajidic the Hutt belongs to and how they fit into the competitive and ruthless society of the Hutts.

Be Your Own Crime Boss

In Lords of Nal Hutta you’ll find the outline for creating a Hutt character, namely a young adult Hutt only one or two centuries old. Your Hutt might be a self-interested smuggler eager to rise up in the ranks of his kajidic, or an outcast and a member of the Rebel Alliance. You might be running a successful weapons smuggling ring, or making a name for yourself as a warrior in order to better launch your political career. Or, you may choose to subvert Hutt tradition, and use your wealth to aid other, more impoverished species.

Hutts are physically tough, with a Brawn of three and a fairly high wound threshold. Their immense size does, however, cause a low Agility score and make them Ponderous, meaning that they can only spend one maneuver moving each turn. Hutts are also mentally tough. They have a high Willpower and are not only difficult to deceive, charm, or coerce, but resistant to the Force. Having taken advantage of their clientele for centuries, the Hutts are not about to let anyone take advantage of them.

The Only Limit Is Ambition

At the edge of the Empire, where Imperial laws fail to check violence and greed, you’re sure to encounter the Hutts. You may perform in a decadent Hutt palace, make a deal with Gardulla in order to get supplies for the Rebellion, or become indebted to Jabba because of a bad smuggling run. With Lords of Nal Hutta, you can integrate the Hutts’ aggressive politics and black market economy into your campaigns, and even participate in their devious schemes as an aspiring Hutt yourself. In Hutt space, the only law is avarice, and the only limit is ambition.

Participate in grim and gritty adventures on the fringes of the Star Wars universe with Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™. Edge of the Empire is a complete standalone roleplay system that transports players to some of the shadiest locations in the Outer Rim, the underbelly of the Core Worlds, and everywhere else in-between!